Agents of the Empire
by BIG Z1776
Summary: Agent Kallus' career didn't begin on Lothal. So let's see where Kallus learned how to be an agent worthy of the Empire on a mission that he and his first team find themselves far in over their heads against a dangerous band of Rebels who would like nothing better than to kill the best of the Empire. But to these ISB agents this is just another day on the job.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright this one is of a type I have yet to see here, a story about Agent Kallus, a relatively unexplored yet well-acted character. So I decided to get creative and show what it is the Imperials, Kallus and the ISB in particular, are truly capable of.**

Chapter 1

Planet Coruscant, Imperial Security Bureau Central Office

The massive office complex that housed the most feared bureaucracy in the Empire was as bland and boring as any other. But the power within its façade of durasteel and glass was undeniable and no one, especially a rookie, could be there and not feel it. Agent Kallus was no rookie, but he certainly wasn't an experienced agent, not yet anyway.

He walked through the courtyard from the entry gate into the heavily guarded office complex and made his way towards the largest building in the cluster in the center. He'd been here a few times already, mostly on his way to briefings on missions he was assigned to. His first had been busting a drug ring on Davenport Gateway, the second was a canceled mission to Kuat to root out a saboteur working on Star Destroyers, and the third was his best mission, an easy investigation as part of an ISB task force that brought down a rebel cell on Corellia. This one however was different, according to his immediate superior this mission would test him, for the first time, as Agent-in-Charge.

Kallus had been with the Imperial Security Bureau for less than two years, and had just gotten off of his first shore leave since graduating the academy. He'd thought that he'd done well in his time in the ISB, and apparently his superiors thought so as well. So he'd donned his uniform and black armored cuirass, paying special attention to the polish on his armor and boots, how well trimmed he kept his characteristic sideburns, and made certain his uniform was freshly cleaned and pressed. One could never make too good an impression.

The elevator ride to the thirty-fifth floor took longer than he would have liked, as he had to make two stops for several officers and enlisted personnel who were in the elevator with him. But he had arrived plenty early to prevent anything unforeseen from making him tardy. So once there he'd walked through the black lined floors and gray hallways to the secured door to his commander's office. He walked to the door, having it slide open in front of him, revealing the entryway where an office secretary was sitting behind his own desk working studiously to the tune of some light music Kallus paid no mind towards.

"Agent Kallus reporting to Commander Lucius," Kallus reported firmly, looking the secretary right in eye.

"You're several minutes early Agent Kallus," the man responded with a bored tone, "Have a seat, the commander will be with you and your team shortly."

"My team?" Kallus asked instantly, his ISB instincts kicking in before he could think better of it.

"Yes, they should be arriving shortly."

Once more the man motioned Agent Kallus a long couch against the wall trimmed in dark blue with the ISB seal embroidered upon the wall with two Imperial banners hanging immediately next to it. He sat down with his mind going, thinking of what sort of team he would be in charge of. He'd only worked with other ISB agents once before, on his third assignment to Corellia, and had been the bottom rung on that team, taking orders from three far more experienced field agents than himself. So to be in charge of his own team was a real surprise.

 _I must have made a major impression then_ , he thought smugly to himself, confident in his new seat of authority and wondered if his other team mates on that last mission had put in a good word for him. _I'll have to thank them if I see them again._

As soon as he'd sat down the door into the office opened once more, and he was treated a far younger ISB agent than himself walking in, taking a double take when he saw Agent Kallus. He had blonde hair cut into a perfect crew cut, and was as clean-shaven as a teenager. His armor, uniform, and boots were pristine, and he was nervous.

"Agent Dowell, ISB-399, reporting to Commander Lucius as ordered," the young man called out as if it were read from a textbook.

 _He's fresh from the academy_ , Kallus inwardly groaned to himself, knowing that such inexperience would definitely impede him.

"Thank you Agent Dowell take a seat please."

"Yes sir," the young man said, pivoting to face Agent Kallus who stood to meet this younger counterpart, "Agent Kallus I presume sir?"

"Stand easy Dowell," Kallus responded, "Your first mission I presume?"

"Yes sir," the man responded with a nod.

"How long since you graduated the academy?"

"Three weeks ago sir," Dowell responded, "I just returned from Carida visiting family after graduation."

"Well," Kallus chuckled, "I shouldn't have to remind you of proper protocol in the field then."

Before Dowell could answer the door opened once more, this time revealing two more ISB agents, one young woman and another, much larger man. Each wore the classic ISB armor with a fresh shine upon it. And both of them had the two blue, one gray, and one red rank box upon their insignia plaques on their upper left chests.

The woman was short, slightly shorter than both Kallus and Dowell, with her red hair tied into a short braid that swung freely, just touching her armored cuirass. She had green eyes with, what Kallus was surprised to see, was a bit of makeup just to make herself look just a bit more attractive than what she already was. He already knew why she did it, it was a tactic trained into ISB agents from their first academy days. If you've got good looks on your side, use them and exploit them to your own advantage. It was something Kallus had used once before on Davenport Gateway to get some information from a thug's less-than-loyal girlfriend.

The man on the other hand was enormous, being a full head taller than Kallus, and being probably strong enough to tear all of them apart. He had short black hair and a full goatee on his face with a small scar on his right cheek. He was calm, and somewhat entertained at the side glaces he got from Dowell who was quite intimidated by the older, much larger agent that came into the room.

"Agent Halle and Agent Breis reporting as ordered," the redheaded young woman said calmly and confidently, her tone as relaxed as could be.

"The commander will be with you shortly," the secretary said calmly, motioning them over to where the other two agents already present were standing.

"You must be Agent Kallus," the woman known as Halle said calmly, walking over to him, "Taller than what I'd expected."

"Agent Halle is it?" Kallus responded, having heard the name once before, "Your marksmanship record is still that score to beat at the academy if I'm not mistaken."

"I'd expect that it is," she responded, "I only graduated two years ago, with you at the head of our class."

"I remember hearing of you but I don't believe I have had the pleasure."

"No, you haven't," she responded confidently, putting Kallus slightly off guard with her absolute confidence.

"It was a large class after all," Kallus responded with a chuckle, "How much action have you seen Agents?"

"Three successful missions," Halle responded with a new tone, smugness, "How about you Agent Kallus?"

"Two," Kallus replied.

"Two?" Halle half-gasped, but it was so fake that Kallus saw right through it. She'd known already, but Kallus knew Halle's record as well.

"And what exactly did your missions entail aside from arresting vagabonds or sniping trouble makers, Agent Halle?" Kallus said with a grin, getting a surprised half-gasp, this one real, and then he got a slight snarl from her.

"And…what were your missions about Agent Kallus?" Agent Breis asked, his voice surprisingly deep as she asked in curiosity.

"The destruction of a drug cartel on Davenport Gateway, by myself, and another mission to Corellia going undercover to catch illegal weapons smugglers as part of a task force. Both missions were complete successes."

"Impressive," Halle responded her tone subdued, knowing her own missions hadn't been as impressive.

Kallus gave her a smirk, knowing he quite easily handled her perceived superiority and shut her up. So he now turned to Breis, the only man here whom Kallus had not yet spoken to about his own experience.

"So Agent Breis," he said calmly, "What sort of experience do you bring to the team?"

"Two missions sir," the larger individual responded, "Corruption case on Carida and a black market bust on Coruscant. I would've been assigned to a third but the ship I was on had a reactor melt-down and we were stranded for three weeks."

"Very well," Kallus responded, giving him a nod, "let's hope that luck does not persist."

"The commander will see you now," the secretary spoke up as the agents were speaking with one another in their own meet and greet talk.

Kallus acknowledged the man who opened the door into the main and rather spacious office of Commander Lucius, their immediate section officer. Each one of their missions began in this office, and so they all knew they were off on their own new mission, and this time, as part of a team.

The office itself was a plush affair, especially for an Imperial one. There was a lush black rug over the crisp and clean tiled floor with the Imperial insignia embroidered in white upon it. On the walls were fine paintings more than likely acquired either at great cost or with simple confiscation. A wooden set of cabinets and tables held glasses and exotic alcohols from across the galaxy in similarly exotic shapes and a variety of sizes. The one-way window of the man's office went wall-to-wall behind him and at the moment he was standing there looking out towards the shapes of the Imperial Senate Building and the old Republic Executive Building with the Imperial Palace and the old Jedi Temple all in one spectacular view. Dozens of skyscrapers also pierced the sky along with tens of thousands of skyspeeders zipping back and forth across the heavily regulated sky lanes.

"Agents Kallus, Halle, Breis, and Dowell reporting as ordered sir," Kallus called out, being the farthest to the left as the appointed Agent-in-Charge for the team.

"Stand at ease Agents," Commander Lucius responded solemnly as he turned to face them.

"Thank you sir," each of the agents called out in concert.

"Agents you all have been chosen for a special assignment, one that is of the utmost importance to the Empire," Lucius began as he walked over to his desk and tapped on the control panel on it. Above their heads a holographic projector whirred to life and the image of a planet came into view. It was green and blue with some browns and whites of the mountains and poles at the extreme north and south tips of the planet, "This is the planet Jabiim. As I'm sure you all know this planet is of great importance to the Empire's industry as a lot of materials are mined and, more importantly, refined on this planet. But lately we have been having some trouble. An increasingly effective insurgency has popped up on the planet, and we've already tried dealing with it."

The image changed to that of two faces, two men with ISB operating numbers underneath them.

"We sent two junior agents to try and resolve the issue in concert with local forces on the ground there. The day after they arrived a bomb placed within their offices killed both agents. What's worse, is that the offices were within the largest Imperial base on the planet, right next door to the Imperial governor's personal offices. I don't think I need to tell you what this means."

"We have a traitor within the command hierarchy on Jabiim," both Kallus and Halle said automatically, glancing at one another after they'd said it.

"Precisely, and this leak has led to the deaths of two of our own. This is no longer business agents, to the Imperial Security Bureau this is now personal," Commander Lucius growled lowly, getting the angered looks he'd expected. The Imperial Security Bureau's field agents were a select group, and as a select group they were close, and their community was just small enough that any deaths in their fold were felt.

"Am I to assume we'll be operating outside the chain of command sir?" Kallus asked calmly.

"Yes you will, which means you will not have the resources of the Imperial forces on the planet and in orbit at your disposal, you'll only have what your ship has aboard. Use them wisely, the rebel activity on the planet has become disturbingly adept at tracking and predicting our moves to eradicate them."

"Are our orders kill or capture?" Halle asked.

"We would prefer capture of course, but no one will mind too much if the traitor and their rebel friends are killed trying to resist arrest," Lucius grinned sadistically.

"Where have these rebels been operating sir?"

"We don't know where their attacks have been originating from is the problem. Jabiim was the site of many invasions during the Clone Wars, and the CIS and local Jabiimi forces established dozens of bases and outposts, many have not been found. We can only assume that these rebels are operating out of a hidden underground base established during the Clone Wars. The most likely location is way out in the mountains on the planet, possibly to the northeast of the capital."

"What sort of attacks are the insurgents mounting sir?"

"So far they've done a bit of everything, hit-and-run raids on lightly defended convoys, rocket and mortar attacks in the cities on Imperial presences, and anything from drive-by shootings on foot patrols to targeted assassinations on public officials. Thankfully these rebels don't have any real orbital support and the local space has been completely secure despite the resistance on the ground."

"Numbers?" Halle asked.

"Could be anywhere from a few dozen to several hundred. They are well armed, not surprising considering the wealth of weapons captured or left behind during the Clone Wars by either Republic or Separatist forces."

"And vehicles?"

"Civilian speeders only thus far, some of them with heavier crew served weapons bolted to them but no real threat to anything other than a speeder bike," the man responded, "Although you won't necessarily have the luxury of vehicles on this mission Agent Kallus."

"Sir?"

The holographic image changed once more, showing them the image of a ship they were disappointed to see, an old _Gonzati_ Cruiser, or more commonly known as an Imperial Freighter. It was a sixty-four meter long relic, with only two weapons emplacements, one dual laser turret on the dorsal hull and a heavy laser on the ventral hull and that was it. It could carry a compliment of thirty people, including the standard Stormtrooper squad and there may have been room for a few speeder bikes if they weren't carrying cargo. However what was worrying Kallus was that this ship would also only need a single individual in order to get anywhere, and this mission had "limited resources" written all over it.

"Meet the _Adversity_ , originally Imperial Freighter _8112_. The ISB managed to get a hold of her a while back after she was captured by pirates and we recaptured it in a raid on their hideout. The ship was damaged and the Navy decided to scrap her for parts rather than repair it and put it back into service. However the ISB decided to keep it and renovate her for our own operations."

The hologram changed as three additional single laser turrets floated down and attached themselves to the ship. Two were directly opposite of one another on the dorsal side hull mounted on the starboard and port sides above the wing while the third, a dual barrel turret, was mounted right on the chin of the craft. Also attaching themselves were two smaller lasers mounted under the wings, straddling the deploying elevator into and out of the ship. Kallus recognized them as Ax-108 "Ground Buzzer" anti-personnel lasers, a weapon he'd seen in person and in action once before.

"She's also been equipped with advanced sensors, upgraded control surfaces, recording devices, and upgraded engines and hyperdrive. Along with that she has sensor jammers and a command station for mission briefings and coordination."

Kallus and the others couldn't help but appreciate the upgrades the ISB had attached to the old bucket. But they all still had their reservations, it was difficult to upgrade a ship as relatively worthless as an Imperial Freighter to the point where it was going to be a match for even CR90 Corellian Corvettes. Those vessels had twice the firepower and twice the speed as even their own upgraded freighter, much less a frigate, of which there were some out there in the form of Separatist _Munificent_ class frigates or _Resucant_ class light destroyers. The Empire had found and taken or destroyed most of the tens of thousands built but so many were made that they were finding them in the hands of smugglers, mercenaries, bounty hunters, and insurgents all the time.

"Your crew is already aboard, getting the ship ready for your mission," Lucius calmly told them, letting the image change once more, showing two individuals on the screen. Two naval personnel, a lieutenant with the emblem of a qualified TIE pilot under his name and the rank plaque of lieutenant on his chest while a second much younger woman with the rank plaque of ensign and the badge of communications and technical specialist was next to him.

"Two people sir?" Halle asked, "Is this all that we've been allowed?"

"The ISB is stretched thin right now Agent Halle, we've had to pull in some naval personnel for the mission and the Navy didn't want to give us their more experienced, and much less manageable, bridge officers that are sorely needed by their own vessels."

Halle nodded after pursing her lips at that. It was no secret, in the ISB itself at least, that they were stretched thin. The Emperor's purges, not lethal ones mind you, in the old Republic intelligence agencies that the ISB had been formed from had drastically limited the ISB's abilities. Experienced, but deemed politically unreliable senior agents, sector officers, and division officers had seen their places filled in by many green faces thrust into positions that they didn't necessarily have experience in and in numbers that were woefully short of operational needs. And with increasing insurrection and unrest throughout the massive expanse of the Empire the Imperial Security Bureau found itself stretched thin.

This problem also applied, albeit on a much lesser scale, to the officer corps of the Navy and Army. Enlisted personnel were a dime a dozen, but the officers took time, and the ISB knew that it couldn't afford to go burning bridges with the Army and Navy, which they had to work with to get their job done. Especially since their own situation was rather precarious. So quite often the ISB was left with some equally skilled but more troublesome or less experienced candidates to conscript into their own missions to fill in the gaps where their own staff weren't present to fulfill those needs.

"So we're stuck with a green kid comms officer and a…less than obedient pilot," Breis grumbled, speaking for the first time during the briefing.

"Their records have some black marks, or nothing at all as the case may be with one of them. But their skill levels are what you'll need, and I can confidently say that being in such close proximity to us will keep them in line and on task," Kallus replied confidently, almost looking forward to the opportunity to practice his threats on one of these two, "But Agent Breis has a point. Why no enlisted personnel sir?"

"This is a hush-hush operation and the _Adversity_ is highly automated, no need to let more people in on a secret than we have to," Lucius replied, hitting the button on his desk and the hologram disappeared. The commander then took out and handed a single datapad over to Kallus, "Now, you have your orders agents, your ship is waiting in the hangar along with your crew. You are dismissed."

All four agents stood to attention and saluted, and the commander returned the salute and they then filed out, following Kallus out of the office and then into the hall. This mission was different than their previous ones. Normally they had worked closely with local Imperial forces, having all of the resources of the Empire's presence at their disposal. But now they were very much limited to the bare necessities of supplies, equipment, and the Imperial network of Jabiim.

"Right then," Kallus said calmly, turning to face the other three agents who stood in a half circle in front of him, "This will be a long term-mission so grab whatever personal effects from your offices that you wish to bring and meet up at the ship in twenty minutes."

"No personal messages sir?" Dowell asked calmly.

"Wanting to brag about your first mission Dowell?" Halle chuckled.

"Well sort of, my mother worries. She wants to know when I'm in the field so she can pray for me."

"Nothing wrong with someone looking out for you," Breis said quietly, patting Dowell on the shoulder.

"Go 'head," Kallus responded, motioning the junior agent with a nod, "And Dowell."

"Sir?" the young man responded as he walked off.

"No specifics at all. No locations, no names, no times."

"Of course sir," Dowell replied with a nod and he started down a flight of stairs downwards.

"Man is he green," Halle grumbled as she walked past Kallus.

"He'll do alright," Kallus noted, "He graduated third in a very high achieving class."

"The agents that were killed on Jabiim were ranked first and second in that same class," Halle drawled out, "He more than likely knew them."

"It'll be a kind of motivation for him to get the job done. Something I'd suggest you remember to have, these rebels have killed two of our own. So they'd be more than happy to kill us," Kallus reminded her, getting a glare from his counterpart.

"You honestly think I don't know that?" she growled, turning to face him, "I might not have brought criminal enterprises to their knees like you have, Agent Kallus, but I know the kind of danger we're in. I've been a hunter, and I've been hunted. No one has to tell me of the danger."

Kallus genuinely didn't know that. He'd read the mission briefs and the debriefs from each of his agents' missions. And he was confident his own team had done likewise with one another and with him. Therefore, the fact that he was finding this out now was a shock. Was it something she'd left out of her reports? Or more than likely, the incident had been omitted by her commanding officer.

Agent Halle felt she'd made her point, and slowly turned away and she too made her way around the corner to the turbolifts in an adjacent hallway to her own office where she kept her personal effects that she had placed in there before coming to the briefing. Breis and Kallus too decided to follow her, although it was going to be somewhat awkward if they had to share a lift.

ISB Central Office, Main Hangar

"What a piece of junk!" Ensign Elaine Ara cried out upon seeing her new assignment. And to the uninformed observer, it sorta was.

To be assigned to an Imperial Freighter meant that someone didn't like you, and with the history these craft had of being as fragile as fighters that meant that your days were numbered. What was worse, this ship belonged to the ISB, which had a reputation among Navy and Army personnel for being the final assignment of many an Imperial. Suffice to say, she was now very much hoping her military life insurance covered top secret assignments for the ISB.

"Yeah but it's your piece of junk," the ISB deck officer said with a chuckle, "Best get settled Ensign. The agent in charge will be along shortly to brief you on your assignment."

Ensign Ara sighed with discontent, knowing there was no way to worm her way out of this. Not even shooting herself in the foot would get the job done. So she walked over to the vessel, examining it closely, and saw that there were several upgrades on this particular ship that made it different than the standard Imperial Freighter. For one it was much better armed than the factory design, two she saw that the dish on the top was replaced with a dome, and the ship's Imperial markings were different, with the ISB crest upon it right below the window into the bridge.

There were technicians and droids all over it, giving it last minute inspections, cleaning several surfaces, or repairing anything that wasn't absolutely perfect. Several showers of sparks flowed from near several maintenance access points where black astromechs were busying themselves with a technician or two alongside, laboring to get the ship ready to go. Several fuel lines and power lines ran to the underbelly of the ship behind the turbolift into the vessel between two of the landing struts. Several stacks of crates were around the vessel, some empty, some full, waiting to be loaded into the constantly in motion cargo lift nearer the nose of the vessel.

She walked onto the durasteel plating of the lift and stepped onto it. Tapping the button on the control panel next to her she was spirited up into the vessel's main loading bay. Inside a pair of enlisted personnel were busy stowing several crates into the main storage bay of the ship forward of what looked to be a garage/workshop of sorts. Four 614-AvA Speeder Bikes were lined up in two rows on the floor with two either side of the cargo hatch. Fully outfitted workbenches were on both walls while a few crates and fuel tanks were against the walls.

"Crew quarters are on the third deck ma'am," one of the men said calmly, seeing her standing there.

"Thanks," she said with a nod, and then turned around to see a small half-ramp, half-staircase leading up to the next deck set against the starboard wall.

She quickly climbed up the stairs, coming to a wall and turned right to find a much longer corridor with the classic Imperial black shined floor and gray walls. Spread along both sides were four doors and on the port wall at the end towards the stern was a ladder for emergency transition between decks. Zipping along the hall were numerous MSE-6 Mouse Droids, which she'd always thought of as kind of cute. Also coming along the hall was an astromech droid colored with a black dome-like head with red markings and a white body with similar red markings. She recognized it as an R3 unit, common aboard Imperial vessels and facilities. The unit was chirping incessantly, as if repeating a tune as it worked. It then saw her and chirped, using its own unique binary language, which she thankfully understood.

"Yes I'm assigned to this ship," she said, almost shocked at the rudeness of this particular unit.

"Don't mind R3, he's already given me a hard time," a human voice said calmly from behind her.

She turned around and saw the uniform of a TIE pilot standing at the top of the ramp into what she assumed was the ship's bridge. The man was a bit older than her, and he didn't have his helmet on, although she could see the black object sitting on one of the chairs in the bridge from where she was standing. He had longer than usual brown hair which had just a slight curl to it.

"You must be the new comms and tech specialist."

"Yes sir," she said with a quick salute, seeing his lieutenant's rank badge for the first time, "Ensign Elaine Ara."

"Take it easy on the formality there rookie," the man calmly, waving her down, "The name's Tarrick, Tarrick Sage, ship's pilot."

"A TIE pilot to fly this old junker?" she asked, motioning around her with a general wave of her arm.

"Yeah I think my old CAG didn't like me very much," he shrugged with a smile, "But don't feel too bad, she's got a few more tricks under the hood than what we can see. I already took her on her trial runs. It's no TIE but it's every bit as fast and maneuverable as a Corellian Corvette."

"Really?" Ara almost gasped, that was quite a claim.

But then a harsh beep coupled with a bump on the back of her leg signaled to her that that R3 unit wanted past. And once more she couldn't help but hesitate at how foul the droid's language was.

"R3!" Lieutenant Sage snapped, "Language. Go ahead and settle in and find your quarters."

"Thanks," Ara responded with a nod, and began walking up the ramp and then went up another half one to the third deck.

The bridge was actually located in between the second and third decks in terms of height. So it was rather easy to get to wherever one needed to be on the ship. But once to the third deck Ensign Ara was disappointed to see her name was on the third port-side door which slid open upon her approach. She'd had been used to a starboard-side living arrangement in training so she would have to get used to the fact that hyperspace would be moving backwards from her perspective. Although it wasn't that big an issue since the window was tiny, just like the rest of the room.

One thing she did take a minute to notice however was that there was only one bed in the room, not the triple decker bunk beds she had been expecting. A small desk folded into the wall next to the gray sheet covered bed and three drawers beneath the bed provided ample room for clothes while a chest next sat opposite of a desk against the wall, just beneath the window. On the desk was a computer, a holoprojector, and several drawers with commonly used office supplies already in place. The window was barely larger than a data pad, and she was able to see through at a row of shuttles tucked against the far wall of the massive hangar facility the _Adversity_ sat within. She opened another door next to the desk to see she even had a private bathroom.

 _Maybe this won't be so bad_ , she thought pleasantly to herself, tossing her large bag onto her bed. She then looked at herself in the mirror, smoothing any wrinkled part of her gray uniform that hugged her thin petite frame. She took off her Imperial cap, and ran a hand through her short blonde hair out of habit. It wasn't long enough where it was possible to tie it into a pony tail, but it was long enough that she could at least work with it, yet keep it out of her eyes. It was a darker blonde, more gold than a platinum like some girls she'd known growing up on Anaxes had always done. But she liked it, and saw no reason to change her style once she'd adopted it upon entering the Imperial Naval Academy.

"Ensign," the voice of Lieutenant Sage called out on the comm mounted next to her door, "Our passengers have arrived. We'll be taking off in a few minutes."

"Before briefing?" she asked, her curiosity coming out before she'd been able to hold her tongue. And for that a new voice piped up, a much lower more threatening one that could only belong to someone from the ISB.

"You'll understand once you're briefed. Now report to the command station immediately."

A cold chill went down her back at the sound of this ISB agent. Ara had heard the stories of the ruthlessness of the ISB, in particular its field agents and officers. The last thing she wanted to do was to make one of them mad at her. So she grabbed her hat and immediately exited her room, tripping over the lip of the open hatch and stumbled out none too gracefully. Ara tried to hold herself up, but ended up falling to her knees with a low thud. But it didn't hurt all that much. What was worse was that someone had seen it.

"You alright?" a voice asked from her left and she looked over to see a an ISB agent standing there with a bag thrown over his shoulder. He was young, with the classic ISB field agent armor with short cropped brown hair and a smirk on his face.

"Just my pride…sir."

"Well watch your step Ensign, there are worse places to fall around here," he laughed as he tossed his bag and his helmet into his room before turning to her as she got to her feet, "Come on, Agent Kallus isn't one to be kept waiting."

"Yes sir," she replied quickly, her stomach dropping again at the thought that she was definitely going to be off on the wrong foot with the lead ISB agent on this mission.

She quickly followed him down the two half ramps past the bridge where Lieutenant Sage was going over his preflight check list. As she went down two more ISB agents, one redhead woman and another much larger man, walked past them. Dowell opened the command station door, which was the first one on the right after the ramp, and stepped to the side and held a hand out.

"Ladies first," he said with a confident grin.

Seeing the smile on the attractive agent's face she met his gaze with a shy smile herself, and walked in after snapping her eyes over to look into the room she was entering. It was a very impressive setup she saw immediately. A good sized circular holographic table was in the middle of the room, glowing a light blue with a control panel facing the door. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, with only enough room for one person to stand around the table on the sides nearest the walls. Large banks of computers and several screens were arranged along the walls with glowing red, white, green, and blue lights, buttons, and switches all over the place. A large half circle of screens sat against the far wall with a rolling chair in the middle, which she guessed was her station. Standing within the room were two figures, one being a droid, one she recognized immediately by its dark silver coloration and overall look as being an E-3PO Protocol Droid. She'd dealt with the infamously arrogant and haughty droid model before, but the real problem she faced was the ISB agent standing at the holographic table looking at a data pad in his hands.

"Ensign Elaine Ara, recent graduate of the Anaxes Imperial Naval Academy, placed eighteenth in your class of five thousand, high marks in all categories with specializations in command and control communications and advanced computer sciences," the man said as she stood to attention within the room.

"Yes sir," she called out.

"Yet…no experience in the field aside from your stint in the academy aboard the Heavy Carrier _Relentless_ for your training cruise. So tell me Ensign, do you think you can fulfill your duties with us on this mission?" Agent Kallus asked, looking up at her with serious, examining eyes.

"Yes sir," she called out.

"Hmph, I see the academies have continued turning out officers with less personality than a battle droid," the protocol droid tutted as it went about its business.

"Yes, so they have," Kallus noted, rubbing his chin as he examined Ensign Ara, "Ensign I will be frank with you. You're not my first choice for this particular assignment. But beggers cannot be choosers as they say. What you will be asked to do here is not what you were necessarily trained to do in the academy."

"Sir I'm ready for whatever it is this mission will confront me with. As a graduate of the academy I have memorized every protocol and contingency…"

"Whatever protocols you have been drilled to adhere to won't necessarily apply in the field," Kallus cut her off, and then turned to Agent Dowell who was standing behind her after shutting the door, "And that goes for you as well Agent Dowell. Both of you are fresh from training and have no experience in the field and will have to learn fast."

"Or else you will most certainly die," the droid piped up once more, "It would be a pity for you to end up like the last ISB mission to Jabiim."

"E-3PO, I did not give you permission to speak of this mission yet," Kallus growled, turning his head slightly to address the droid.

"The ship is secured Agent Kallus and I do believe that the Ensign has been given temporary security clearance for the duration of this assignment."

"Command, silence," Kallus once more growled.

"Acknowledged," E-3PO responded on command and went into silence as it then returned to its tasks.

At that same moment the door opened and Lieutenant Sage poked his head in, this time with his black shining helmet on.

"Agent Kallus the ship is ready for lift off."

"Very well Lieutenant," he responded with a nod, "Take us into orbit and lay in a course to Jabiim, stay away from the main shipping and Naval lanes."

"Yes sir," the man said with a two finger salute, "This shouldn't take too long."

As he was about to walk out he stumbled as all three Imperials heard the chirping of their R3 unit ranting at Sage as it bumped into him.

"Hey I'm walking here R3! You worthless astromech…"

The R3 grumbled loudly back at him as it rolled along, getting a giggle from Ara and a short chuckle from Agent Dowell while Kallus smiled at the exchange and shook his head.

"Feel free to get acquainted with your station Ensign," Kallus said to her as he picked up his bag from off of the floor and snagged his helmet from off of the table and walked out, "You and the Lieutenant will be briefed upon entry into hyperspace."

At that moment the overhead speakers crackled loudly. That's when she really got an idea of what kind of pilot their ship had with them.

"Ladies and gentlemen this is your Lieutenant speaking, we are currently lifting off from Coruscant. So please make sure your seats are in their upright and locked position and keep your hands and feet inside the craft at all times. When it comes to flying we know you have no choice whatsoever, so we would like to thank you for choosing Air Adversity for all your top secret travels."

"Damned TIE pilots," she chuckled under her breath as she walked over to the main work station in the command station.

But she couldn't help but stop as the light from the window in the front of the room started changing as it swept along the floor. They were taking off, and she felt the rumbling of the ship. She then noticed Agent Dowell was also standing there, looking at the passing cityscape as the _Adversity_ began picking up speed.

"Never seen the city quite like this," Dowell said quietly, "Amazing."

"Just wait until you see a planet that's been untouched by progress. That's when you can really see the beauty of the universe."

"I've never been outside the Core," Dowell responded shyly.

"You haven't? I thought you ISB agents were pretty well traveled?"

"Weren't you paying attention? I'm fresh out of the academy. Haven't been on a single mission."

"Neither have I, or…well I've never been on a deployment. Navy personnel don't have missions like you guys do per se," she said as the ship climbed skywards, and the duo saw the red of the dawn atmosphere was replaced by the inky black of space. Glittering dots of ships of thousands of sizes and shapes were in view, bustling about as they came and went from the massive ecumenopolis.

"Sure hope I won't mess up," Ara said with a slight hint of despair.

"Yeah, me too."

Dowell didn't notice Ara look at him with a slight hint of surprise. She'd always seen men like him as self-confident and not easily rattled.

"It'll just be matter of sticking to the plans. We'll be alright, and we'll get the experience that might help make our job that much easier."

"Well, we're about to get plenty."

And at that the _Adversity_ with her six men and women made the jump into hyperspace.

 **Well what do you guys think? I've had this in my head for a while after rewatching a few episodes. I've got a few more chapters with their plots written down and I might even bring this team into my other Star Wars Rebels story.**

 **Next Chapter Preview: Who are these ISB agents and Navy officers? Let's find out before the fun really begins.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

ISB Transport Ship _Adversity_

Agent Halle was glad that the ISB always made certain that their armory was well stocked with whatever weapons that they might need. In that armory was her preferred weapon of choice, an E-11S Sniper Rifle. It was essentially an elongated version of the classic E-11 blaster, of which their armory had quite a few. The barrel section was identical in all but length and there was a scope and a power pack on the side. But the similarities ended there. The stock was a permanent fixture, with the pistol grip connected at the end of the grip with the very tip of the rifle holding a bipod for stabilizing the weapon. The scope was a much larger and more complex one than the E-11 had, and she knew its capabilities well.

Halle was sitting at the small worktable against the wall, working on cleaning the factory fresh rifle of its storage grease and removing its safety mechanisms. She'd already disassembled it, and had a rag in hand, cleaning every surface of the weapon after clearing the barrel thoroughly. As she diligently worked she heard the door hiss open and heard the boot steps of Agent Kallus enter the room.

"I thought you'd be here," Kallus noted as he opened one of the lockers to the E-11's and removed one.

"Working on my weapon is a kind of meditation. Keeps me focused," Halle responded, "and focus is what has kept me alive."

"Including on Felucia?" Kallus asked, causing Halle to freeze for a moment as she ran the rag along one of the power packs.

Kallus noted the reaction his question had gotten and knew his suspicions were confirmed when Halle replied.

"I don't want to talk about it," Halle responded, getting back to her task.

"Well I do Agent Halle. So what happened on that mission?" Kallus outright demanded, "Two agents were assigned that mission but only one returned."

"You just don't take a hint do you?" Halle growled, her voice shaking every bit as much as her hands were.

"You left something off of that report, didn't you?"

" _I_ left nothing off that report. Anything that is not present on my mission report was done at a higher security clearance than mine."

"So something did happen," Kallus noted, coolly starting to take apart the E-11 and letting his questions take their toll.

"You want to know what happened? Ask my commander, because I'm not talking about it so leave me alone!" she snapped before snapping the parts of her rifle together in a rush before storming up to the open rack of rifles and slamming it into place and locking it shut.

With her task completed she slapped the dirty rag into the cleaning bin at the door before storming off, her fuming audible throughout the ship. Agent Kallus knew he'd pinned down the right mission that she'd referenced at the ISB Central Office. She'd claimed having first-hand knowledge of being the hunter and being the hunted. Now he knew the mission that it had occurred during. So he carefully continued with his weapons check, glad to see that the weapon was not brand new, having already been cleaned and checked. This left his mind to continue its busy thought processes on whether he'd be able to count on his team, especially his second in command.

On the bridge the outburst had been heard as clear as day by the _Adversity_ 's pilot. Lieutenant Sage hadn't known what the context of the conversation was but he had a good idea that Agent Halle had no intention of sharing as she'd passed the bridge on the way to her quarters on the deck above. So he'd turned his attention back to his controls, disappointed to see nothing out of the ordinary so he just pulled his data pad off of the chair next to him to continue the letter he'd been writing. He then heard a footsteps come up to the bridge entrance and heard a knock on the side of the doorway.

"Mind some company Lieutenant?" the deep voice of the largest of the ISB agents asked.

Sage looked back to see Agent Breis holding two cups in his hands as he stood in the doorway, practically filling it. He noted he was still wearing the same uniform as he had when he'd boarded.

"Yeah sure, come on in," Sage replied, "I'd assume one of those is for me."

"You'd assume right," Breis responded, handing the steaming cup of caf over to the pilot who took off his helmet and set it on the dashboard of the control panel before taking the cup with a quiet thanks, "I'd say Kallus is pushing his luck with Halle."

"I'd say so," Sage nodded as Breis sat in one of the rear seats and kicked his feet up onto the front chair next to Sage, "I'd bet those two will end up sleeping with each other before the end of this mission."

"You think so?" Breis chuckled, having thought a similar prediction himself earlier.

"Why not?" Sage asked, "It's how I got together with my own girl."

"That who that letter's meant for?" Breis asked, motioning with a finger as he took a sip from his cup.

"Yeah, she's assigned to one of Kuat's planetary defense squadrons. Last time we spoke she'd gotten an apartment planetside."

"Pretty expensive to get an apartment down there."

"Don't have to tell me, I was born on Kuat," Sage replied.

"Oh really?" Breis said, "Well that makes two of us."

"Where on Kuat?" Sage asked.

"I was born in a small town called Uilos north of the capital. But my wife and son are living in the capital. She's an executive in the company, her parents didn't really like her marrying a lowly security officer. But when she gave birth to our first kid they changed their tune."

"You were a cop at the time?" Sage asked.

"Seven years," Breis responded, "I was recruited into the Bureau after working with them on a sabotage case in the shipyards and so…here I am."

"I'd bet the wife doesn't get to see you very often anymore," Sage noted.

"Yeah pretty much," he responded with a shrug, "But I've got two months leave after this mission already secured. I'm hoping I'll be headed home in time for our anniversary."

"I'm sure she'd be happy with that," Sage responded with a smile.

"Oh yeah, she loves showing me off at the company's balls and parties and whatnot. She's always said she's the safest executive in her division with an ISB agent as her husband."

"Can't say I blame her."

"What about you? Are you serious about this girl back home?" Breis asked.

"Well…yeah I'm hoping to, and you know, I think she wants to as well. But she's so concerned about her career in the fleet she's wary of getting too serious."

"Been there," Breis grumbled, "My wife was working her way up from an intern to a higher position when we started seeing each other."

"Well Rean and I met in flight school. We only started really going out after we were assigned to our first ship. And it only really getting serious when the old _Unassailable_ was decommissioned," Sage replied, "She's been itching to get command of a squadron and then her own ship."

"Ah, she's one of those huh?" Breis said.

"Yep. Kinda like that blonde number in the command center," Sage said, motioning with his head down the hall to where the young ensign was hard at work in her station.

"She never seemed to be that kind of an officer to me," Breis grumbled, looking at the door in question.

"Just intimidated with all you ISB types around. Give it time," Sage shrugged.

"Let's hope she's not."

Ensign Ara didn't think of herself as one of those power hungry career-first type of young Imperial officers. Although she had been on both ends of that kind of accusation many times back at the academy. However she was unaware of the conversation going on in the cockpit between Sage and Breis, for which she was thankful, as all the talk about relationships and family made her somewhat jealous.

Being in a relationship, especially a stable one, gave you something else to look forward to, something to take your mind off of the daily drag of life in a demanding duty as an Imperial officer. It also gave her some manner of humanity to cling onto. The academy had drilled out many officers, but as the E-3PO unit standing next to her had pointed out they'd trained robots, not people. She was just discovering this herself now that she was off of that drab and dreary campus and into a fresh new environment where everything wasn't a regimented system like it was back on Anaxes.

So she was looking forward to meeting someone, and grabbing a hold of what that might entail for life after the military. Things such as a marriage, a home, even a family to call her own and do with as she knew was right. But it was still secondary, a mere distraction to be contemplated on her down time. Down time she had precious little of right now aboard the _Adversity_.

Her time was being taken up by making lists and time-lines of the rebellious activity on Jabiim, isolating the commonly used treason charge for simply disagreeing with some thuggish Army officer from true insurrection activity. There were dozens of reports of individuals being brought in for treason or sedition against the Empire in the capital alone, but there were also over thirty attacks on record on Imperial personnel and property. Many were just groups of individuals shooting blasters from afar at the Empire's bases and troops or a mine or bomb going off with nary a soul in sight able to pin down who was responsible. Yet there was another style of attack, one that had caught her attention.

The reports had shown eight different attacks since the deaths of the two initial ISB agents sent to Jabiim that were far out of the norm. These were precise, almost surgical in their precision and skill. A small group would infiltrate into refineries, bases, or outposts across the planet and then begin destroying or stealing key targets and escaping without loss from the local garrison. Each time they'd appear, they'd strike like lightning and then disappear as attacks from less skilled rebel bands sparked across the planet, more than likely copy-cat rogues inspired by their bold and very public attacks. What was worse was that this band was getting bolder, and the secondary uprisings were getting more widespread. The ISB was right, the situation was about to become desperate.

 _But how are we going to stop it?_ Ara thought to herself as she rubbed her eyes, feeling the classical soreness from a long time spent staring at screens.

"E-3PO I think I'll take a break for a little bit, can you continue time-lining those attacks and mapping them out for me? I'll add the reports from the individual incidents when I get back," Ara said, standing from her chair and buttoning up her uniform before putting her hat back.

"Very well Ensign," the droid replied, "It will be done, although I may just put in the reports myself."

"Nothing's stopping you," she grumbled under her breath as she walked out of the room and across the hall opened the door into the galley.

She chanced a look up towards the bridge and saw the blue glow of hyperspace still outside. She'd forgotten to open the window of the command center before she'd left it to check herself but now satisfied her curiosity with that simple glimpse of the beautiful sight. So she walked in and saw Agent Dowell sitting at a table by himself with a datapad in front of him with a pair of headphones on. The air was thick with the smell of a freshly cooked meal still on warming mode at the cooking station in the back of the room. Dowell had turned off the auto-chef device and had made a meal himself. This was quite a surprise.

"Did you make that?" Ara asked the young agent as she looked at the stacks of dishes as they traversed through the fully automated dishwasher.

"Yep," Dowell responded as he hit the pause on his tablet, "Felt like I'd gender some favor with everyone if I put some effort into making this whole experience a bit more comfortable. It's also relaxing to an extent."

"Well I'm not complaining about the effort," she noted, looking through the clear, but steam covered lid that held a brownish orange substance with several types of vegetables and bits of meat visible, "But is the food any good?"

"I think so, I tried following the recipe as best I could with the ingredients available."

"What is it?" she asked as she took off the lid and saw the thick food inside and was bombarded by a somewhat spicy odor.

"Chili, I used to make it all the time at home before joining the academy. First time I've made it in a few years."

"I'll give it a try," Ara shrugged, grabbing a metal, featureless bowl out of the cupboard above her head and a spoon from the appropriately marked holders on the island behind the cooking station.

"Tell me what you think," Dowell said hopefully as she ladled in a serving of the meal and grabbed some bread and bottle of tea from the refrigerator.

She brought her food over and sat down next to Dowell, who sort of hesitated at her chosen spot to his immediate left. After sitting down she placed her hat in front of her then removed the leather gloves on her hands and placed them next to her cap. She took a spoonful of the thick chili and ate it, fanning her mouth a little bit as she regretted not letting it cool off a little.

"Well?"

"Give me a minute, it's a little hot," Ara replied her brow beading up a bit with the combined spice and temperature.

"Temperature or spice?" Dowell asked with a chuckle, taking a bite himself.

"Temperature," she said as she took another spoonful and made certain to blow on before taking another bite, "But it's pretty good. You're lucky I like spicy food."

"Well that's one," Dowell said with a smile, "Hopefully the others will think likewise."

"I'd imagine so," she said through a third mouthful that she'd taken with some bread, "I know we wouldn't get anything near this quality on even a Star Destroyer. Looks like this mission might be shaping up."

"Well my parents owned a little restaurant in Carida, we catered to the Imperial Academy cadets all the time and became sorta the go-to spot for a good meal."

"You're from Carida?" Ara asked, "I'm from Anaxes myself."

"Graduate from there?"

"Of course. Where else would I have gone?"

"True enough," Dowell shrugged as he looked back to his datapad.

"What're you reading there? Nothing classified I hope?"

"No, it's the news feeds from Jabiim. I've been trying to get a hold of what's going on there."

"Good luck," Ara chuckled, "I've been doing that for several hours now."

"Agent Kallus order you?"

"That's an affirmative," Ara said with some good-natured sarcasm, "I've had a lot of data to sift through. But thankfully that arrogant droid in there isn't as useless as the rumors state and I've got a series of attacks mapped out and time-lined."

"Any patterns?" Dowell asked.

"Yeah actually I have noticed something," she said calmly, remembering something about the attacks after the ISB agents had been murdered. But she saw that Dowell was a but surprised, "What?"

"I just didn't actually expect someone not trained in investigative procedures to be able to pick out patterns in terror attacks."

"Well I did, thanks to my favorite Holonet program," Ara piped up, eager to share what she'd found out, "There've been two kinds of attacks it seems. There are scattered rogue groups that shoot at Imperial troops and facilities from time to time and after the more successful raids. These make up the vast majority of attacks, they don't do very much damage, but there are dozens of them."

"And the other kind?"

"This one is bit more complicated. From the reports I've read I think that it's one unit of rebels with quite a bit of skill going after much larger more important objectives. They hit hard, destroy or steal what they came for and then disappear."

"And then take credit for their great victories," Dowell scowled.

"That's what's odd," Ara said as she took a drink of tea, "They don't. These insurgents don't say a thing. No press release, not even a call to arms. They hit, they disappear, and they repeat the process."

"Hmm…I've heard of these types of cells. Often they're not locals, they normally operate off of small vessels with a variety of black market upgrades that keep them off of our scanners so they can come and go. They attack strategically important objectives, and then let the locals exploit their strikes with uprisings."

"A cell?" Ara asked, "You mean there's others?"

"It's really only rumor that there's more like them or that they're part of something larger. But…my hunch is that these guys are part of a larger movement that is trying to exploit the local disdain for higher authority and gain some measure of strength and legitimacy."

"There is some hope for you yet Agent Dowell," a new voice said calmly, and both Imperials turned to see Agent Kallus entering the galley.

"Agent Kallus sir," Dowell sounded off, standing upright alongside Ensign Ara.

"As you were," Kallus said, "I smelled something in here, now I see I was right."

"Oh, yes, it's something I've made since school. Figured it would be a better meal than rations."

"Most certainly," Kallus as he scooped out his own meal along with a bottle of water, "Ensign Ara," Kallus said her name, making her freeze in fear for a moment, "I expect that your tasks will completed before oh-six hundred."

"I'm almost done sir," Ara replied instantly.

"See that is," Kallus nodded before turning to leave, "I'll be in my quarters."

Kallus noted that the two of them were seated right next to each other in the midst of a very engaging conversation. He could tell that the two green individuals were, as he'd expected, close. But then again rookies of any service always leaned on others of their own age for their initial days until someone of experience took them under their wing. Kallus simply hoped that these two would control their emotions, lest their working relationship get compromised by something...more.

"Sir," Dowell said on instinct as Kallus walked out, and then realized just how ridiculous he looked, "Boy am I green."

"Yeah, me too, first mission and I can't even sit down and finish a simple task," Ara grumbled.

"Don't worry about it," Dowell replied, "What you're doing is not normal for a Naval ensign. In fact nothing on this mission will be what you were really trained for."

"Thanks for making me feel better," Ara winced slightly, poking around at her food.

"Seriously though, I think you're doing alright. It's only the first day, and we haven't had a real situation pop up yet. Once we get there our instincts will kick in and we'll be fine."

"How can you trust instincts that haven't been tested before?" Ara asked with some testiness in her tone.

"Well you can't go through an assignment like this thinking you're not up to it can you?"

"I guess not. But I'm just a command and control officer, I'm not down there slinging blasters like you agents."

"Believe it or not the ISB has entrusted you and Lieutenant Sage up there with quite the responsibility. We need you, both of you. Without you…this mission is not possible. So for what it's worth I feel like I can trust you."

Ara looked at him right in his eyes, checking to see if he had anything other than sincerity in his declaration. She saw his soft blue eyes looking right back at hers and she stopped, taking another closer look that was like that of just of a girl looking into a guy's eyes. But then she realized what she was doing, sensing the awkwardness of them just staring and smiled as she averted her gaze down to her bowl.

"Thanks," she whispered, "I'll do my best not to let you guys down."

But she caught her tongue as she felt her lips part to say it; _I won't let_ you _down, Agent Dowell_.

 **Well I think that's plenty of character development for the time being don't you think? So I do believe I'll end it here and move on with the story. As usual tell me what you think, have any suggestions, problems, or questions leave it in a review and I'll get back to you on it.**

 **Next Chapter Preview: The** _ **Adversity**_ **arrives at a powder keg called Jabiim.**


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